What a literary journey this has been. I started writing Black Blood White Hands (BBWH) as a short story. From there it has morphed into a full-length novel. The total word count is greater than 62,000. I took my time writing this novel. It’s taken approximately two years to write. There are important take aways from this first writing experience. If you enjoy writing I would first say, don’t stop writing. Even when you experience writers block, don’t quit. If you stop, then creativity will also stop. It’s honestly hard to get writers block—there is so much to write about, so many different angles and perspectives to gleen from—my writing mentor taught me this. For a long period of time, even now, I have some daunting moments of depression related to grief and loss. The depression sucked the life out of me and caused me to stop writing, stop being creative, and lose focus. Its hard to explain. It’s like trying see through a thick fog. So I don’t think writers block is real, but the cares of life can impede your progress–and that’s fine.
Important parts of the writing process
- Don’t stop writing
- Brainstorm
- Outline
- Character Development
- Editing
- Formatting
- Book cover design
Initially, I did not brainstorm nor outline. BBWH was just an idea. Jot the idea for a storyline down and brainstorm from there. Then, start outlining the chapters and the flow of the story. If you want meaningful stories and plots then it is necessary to follow a set of guidelines. Be disciplined in your craft. Have a daily or weekly routine that you follow. You don’t have to write every day, but you should have a schedule that you consistently follow. Although reading and writing every day help to flex those muscles. I found that I wrote faster if I had been consistently reading and writing daily. Practice makes perfect.
Character Development
Is the character believable? The reader can tell if you have put in ample amount of time in developing the character. What makes the character tick? Insert dialogue tags where necessary. There are multiple ways to insert dialogue tags with action verbs. Facial expressions and gestures help paint the picture to the reader. Without the expressions, the reader imagination is running wild with assumptions.
How to Create a Character Development Outline — Good Story Company
Editing
My novel is ready and scheduled for editing in May. The editor is being hired for developmental and line copy editing. As a self-published author, the entire writing process responsibilities fall on my shoulders. There is not a team of people working behinds the scenes. Big publishing companies have teams of people work on editing, marketing, formatting, and book cover design. Some authors such as James Patterson hire ghost writers to write the novel. In the end James Patterson’s name is put on the book cover. Editing is an important step. I do not want to publish a literary work with a thousand of mistakes. Before you send to the editor, make sure you have read over the manuscript at least three to four times, revising as much as possible. When the editor is finished she will send it back to me for revisions. The developmental editing will dig deeper into character development and plot holes. How can the story be better?
Formatting
After editing, I will send the revised manuscript off for formatting. Formatting is necessary when publishing through various vendors like Barnes and Nobles and Amazon. You want to make sure the text and the book cover matter are properly aligned. Proper margin placement will ensure that the text is not too far on the edge of the page or near the spline. The hired formatter may insert creative artwork or icons at the beginning of each chapter or throughout the manuscript. That is the beauty of formatting.
Book Cover Design
I made a mistake and started this project with a book cover design without having the manuscript finished. As the word count increases, so does the spine of the book. My original book cover is nice, but sort of generic. I want to get the book cover redesigned before publishing. I would suggest getting a book cover design at the end of the project, not the beginning.
These are just some issues you may run into. I’d say the easiest part is writing. Everything else is challenging.
